Plummer: 'I'll Never Work With Him Again'

[TheEditorify]

It may feel hard to understand Terrence Malick's movies like it was in the case of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Unfortunately, Plummer didn't have the chance to hear from Terrence Malick what The New World was about since that would have made his performance incredibly "pretentious". But after that much time, Plummer's word indicates that he still does not know what it was about and has not even thought about it. These words were very sad not because he was a bad actor on the contrary a very good one.

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[SnowGirl098]

Ok, really? Can people stop getting their panties in a twist? He spends half the video praising the guy. What is so wrong with stating one inconsistency? He and Malick probably just have different views on film-making. Christopher obviously has great respect for him in many aspects; why can't he state his disagreement in another?

[KellyGreen5555]

@SnowGirl098 Agreed. People fixate on the criticism and fail to recognize the praise that Plummer gives Malick.

I also applaud Plummer's honesty. The actors sitting around him come to life when he starts speaking the truth.

We are so used to actors bullshitting and giving faux praise to each other that Plummer is thrilling to listen to...

[fuckem187]

sorry but hes right "a new world" was an awful malick film and by far the worst ive seen of him. Also christopher is saying because of their row they wont work again together not that he doesnt think terry is a great director. plummer isnt some hollywood egotistical cry baby diva who wants his director to do this and that hes simply stating a fact. Malick is great and so is plummer but i think on this occassion hes right.

[isadore100]

what movie is he talking about?? The Beginners?

[natoplace]

@isadore100 No, it was The New World.

[KayWildcat]

Terrence Malick is a visionary and in my opinion, one of the greatest filmmakers today. However, seeming how the response to Kubrick back in the day was similar from the inner circle, you can tell that Malick is among the filmmakers that have a distinct vision and will not deviate from his perspective. If he decided to see things differently, he will change things to match his point of view. As a creative artist, he is a genius, but as a collaborative artist, he may not be of the best kind...

[aperezjr]

@KayWildcat I'm still thinking whether I agree or not. Nevertheless, very well put.

[SupernaturalLover67]

well I think it was kind of rude to say maybe, just in that it is televised. But he has a point, Terrence Malick's films are brilliant in their way, but they also have a bit of a pretentious, self-indulgent vibe, and the characters tend to get mushed into the background. The Tree of Life was interesting, but boring as shit.

[DaleRobby]

Why are people on here surprised that actors are shallow and unintelligent. That has been a stigma for people who want to pretend to be someone else for a living for a LONG time.

[Sshelly34213]

@DaleRobby What was shallow about anything he said? Actually I thought Christopher Plummer was surprisingly eloquent in his critique of Malick. When does an actor ever go into the technical aspect of what a writer or director does?

[TheAnaceciliadmmm]

@Sshelly34213 and he is 82 for Christ sake, he can say whatever he wants....

[Sshelly34213]

@TheAnaceciliadmmm Yea he's certainly been in the business long enough and has worked with a lot of real writers (playwrights) directors and artists to give us a sound judgement.

[TheAnaceciliadmmm]

@Sshelly34213 Yes and my comment was just an addendum. I think besides he has all the experience to talk about the business, he really doesn't need to care. That is a right conquered by the elderly that I admire, respect and support. Like, you don t need to measure your words anymore, say whatever you want. For me being old is the TOP OF HIERARCHY of humans, if u know what I mean. U can be President and u have to listen what an elderly have to say.

[TheAnaceciliadmmm]

@Sshelly34213 I agree, Mu comment was an addendum to that. I tried to say, besides of all life, work experience, he doesn t have to WORRY anymore. That is the great prize and joy of being old and great. For me that is the top of hierarchy of Humans, lol, and the only one that I respect, to be honest.

[Sshelly34213]

@TheAnaceciliadmmm I completely agree, we have degraded what used to mean proud, wise, and great into something frail, weak, pathetic, and senile. The role of elder in society shouldn't be one that is ridiculed and scoffed at.

[landgabriel]

"I never said all actors are cattle; what I said was all actors should be treated like cattle."

Hitchcock

"Acting is a bum's life, an expression of the neurotic impulse."

Brando

[KellyGreen5555]

Can you please upload the entire interview? Thanks!

[mustsilm]

Why is Theron there? She wasnt nominated for this year.

[landgabriel]

Plummer has some serious gall to even attempt to criticize Malick as a composer of narratives and images.

[pethomas]

@landgabriel Yes, who is this Christopher Plummer? How dare he share his opinion on a profession he's been part of for 50+ years.

[landgabriel]

@pethomas Plummer is an actor. Thats all. He doesnt write or direct. He has no foundation upon which to criticize Malick. There;s a saying in screenwriting: 'show, don't tell'. If Plummer dislikes Malick's writing, Plummer should write and direct a better movie than Tree of Life. BUT NO. Plummer can't. All Plummer can do is criticize someone who many believe to be among the best auteurs of all time.

[KellyGreen5555]

@landgabriel Listen to Plummer's words clearly and perhaps you will understand.

Your argument regarding film criticism is absurd. One does not need to direct a film or write a film to know and understand the creative process. The late, great Pauline Kael would break a chair over your head.

[landgabriel]

@KellyGreen5555 Watch Malick's films and perhaps you will inderstand.

Your argument against mine is absurd. One needs to produce a film to understand the creative process of producing film. The late and largely unknown Paul Kael would get his ass kicked if he tried to break a chair over my head.

[KellyGreen5555]

@landgabriel Try breaking the Prozac in half, Jethro.

[landgabriel]

@KellyGreen5555 Try not taking prozac, yo.

[Mhor]

@landgabriel Christopher Plummer has also written for the stage, television and the concert-hall. Plummer and Sir Neville Marriner rearranged Shakespeare’s Henry V with Sir William Walton’s music as a concert piece.

[landgabriel]

@Mhor Plummer is in no position to tell Malick what Malick needs or doesn't need. Plummer should STFU and write and direct his own damn films.

[Mhor]

@landgabriel I understood your point to mean Plummer should write his own films and then he would be in a position to have his own opinion (consequently I would like to know what films you have acted in or written or directed to allow you an opinion over Plummer).

If you had done a simple google search you would have seen he has written before.

If you can't get your facts straight then you can't hope to win people over with your argument.

[Mhor]

For @robotdevicehuman as well

[landgabriel]

@Mhor I have written one full length screenplay and numerous shorts. Nothing Hollywood has bitten into but maybe that is for the best?

Malick's films are widely regarded as some of the best in the last decades. The New World, the film which Plummer complains he didn't have enough screen time in, is considered by many as the best film of the last decade. So if Plummer thinks Malick needs a writer because Malick's work is somehow lacking, by all means, Plummer should shut up and do better

[KellyGreen5555]

@Mhor I think that it is impossible to have a civil debate with a few of these people posting...I'm getting a seriously unhinged vibe...

[landgabriel]

@KellyGreen5555 Right, saying someone would 'break a chair over my head'...quite civil.

[KellyGreen5555]

@landgabriel Wow. You sure do like to create drama where none exists!

BTW, you couldn't BUY a sense of humour.

[robotdevicehuman]

@Mhor So Plummer rewrote Shakespeare? OK, I'm seeing a pattern here. He seems to have some Salieri in him.

[Sshelly34213]

@robotdevicehuman I think you're just being a hater for hater's sake. What's the big deal? So someone doesn't like your favorite director, that means they must be discredited as ignorant, arrogant, and a poor artist?? That's mature. Christopher Plummer actually worked with Malick, observed his screenwriting process and is much more capable of you than judging how that process works out.

Some of your observations on poetic imagery in dialogue are valid, but most are not.

[Sshelly34213]

@robotdevicehuman Insults are not valid supporting arguments to make

[Sshelly34213]

@robotdevicehuman I've seen The New World and there was nothing alarmingly great about it, especially considering his filmography.

[mostpowerfulbenjamin]

terrence malick > actors

[justafterdark]

I'm disappointed in this years roundtable...I mean that table clearly isn't round

[Mistake0928]

When michael and Charlize found that Mallick cut Brody in his film - nice reactions. I didn't know about this accident with Brody, i think it's the most horrible things

[KellyGreen5555]

@Mistake0928 Yes! It's also terribly rude for an actor to find out that way.

[ebuzzmiller34]

I can see him and Clooney's POV here, I mean it is a different way of making movies. Not saying good or bad, but it'd take adjusting too. I think particularly Clooney has a point with how he edited Thin Red Line (which I love) and some actors didn't even turn up in it must have been a head scratcher.

[SemajPetrille]

This video is an important reminder of how important celebrities are, and how lost we would all be without them.

[Iguanaseeyou]

@SemajPetrille I don't have any celebrities and I don't feel lost. Maybe it is because I have a mind.

[robotdevicehuman]

Gee, George, you're making fun of the director of The Tree of Life, a movie your friend Brad produced. Nice going.

[KellyGreen5555]

@robotdevicehuman I give George credit for being honest. Most interviews are bullshit shilling bullshit.

[dubbleagent22]

I love how Viola Davis and Michael Fassbender just sit there quietly, as if they want to contradict all that nonsense, but don't feel the need to speak up. Malick is the finest artist working today, and I think they realize that.

[9xxx9]

George clooney seems like such a pompous jerk. And christopher plummer looks really pathetic here. So Malick cut some of your lines, he did what he thought was best for the story. Its not the christopher plummer show. An its something like 8 years after the matter, like really buddy grow up, you're an 82 year old man not some kid in 6th grade who hasn't matured yet.

[Blunders1000]

"I'll never work with him again"

More your loss than his, Christopher

[imiiiS]

What film are they referring to? (with Mickey Rourke being cut out)

[obiwashere]

@imiiiS The Thin Red Line

[TwinTerrorStudios]

@imiiiS The Thin Red Line

[kickodude]

They said the same thing about Stanley Kubrick. And look at him now, he's considered the greatest thing to ever happen to film. Malick is probably laughing at this video now.

[kiwiifalling]

@kickodude How much did I roll my eyes at this? Malick was already a legendary filmmaker by the time Plummer agreed to work with him - he worked with him BECAUSE he's a brilliant filmmaker. Plummer just happened to be not personally satisfied with his experience or the movie, which he is perfectly entitled to be.

[KellyGreen5555]

@kiwiifalling It's amusing because Plummer speaks the truth - Malick is an extraordinary talent AND has weak points - and some Malick fans can't take fair criticism and go apeshit. I am a Malick fan, but I know that he can falter at times.

Hey, Kubrick was a cinematic genius (also a personal fave) but I think that "Eyes Wide Shut" is an abysmal mess.

[kiwiifalling]

@KellyGreen5555 I agree, and this is coming from someone who personally loves The New World. Malick isn't fucking God, and I laughed at what Plummer said because there is a grain of truth to what he says - Malick has pretty much given up writing coherent scripts altogether, which bothers some people and is defended by others.

[icetrey87]

@kiwiifalling

I liked Thin Red Line all right but Tree of Life was a fucking train wreck.

[KellyGreen5555]

@icetrey87 Malick originally wanted the late, great Heath Ledger for the lead role. Ledger would've been magnificent.

[icetrey87]

@kickodude

Ok, well Malick is never going to be anywhere near as big a deal as Stanley Kubrick.

[kickodude]

Damn actors speak over eachother! Shut up and let the others talk lol.

[HanzSygnal]

Just lost a ton of respect for this guy. The director has the right to direct however he pleases, the actor is his tool in HIS composition- not the other way around, so Plummer himself is the one who is pretentious. He should sign-on for the next Tranformers film.

[iloveneytiri]

@HanzSygnal It shows a lack of respect and intelligence to not inform an actor he has been cut and to embarass him publicly. You don't treat people like that. The people that think he is a great philosopher, know nothing about philosophy. His writing is dreadful. His direction, at times, beautiful. Read The Tree Of Life script. Its philosophy from the mind of someone not capable of any philosophical thoughts. He films and writes for those of mediocre intelligence.

[hotsizzleakadafizz]

@iloveneytiri LOL his philosophy is like from a mind of someone not capable of any philosophical thoughts? I guess that's why he studied philosophy under one of America's great philosophers! Please, give me one reason why The Tree of Life is so "mediocre"?

[landgabriel]

@iloveneytiri Better films? Many at MUBI consider New World the best of last decade.

[DonRMB]

"Badlands" and "Days of Heaven" are MASTERPIECES!... I thought the "Thin Red Line" was great but after that, there's not much of him I like.. "Tree of Life" was HORRIBLE~!

[POTTERMUSICALitalia]

You shouldn't give Christopher Plummer all this shit. Malick sure is a genious but we have enough "witnesses" to know for sure that working with him must be a nightmare. :p

I understend why an actor wouldn't want to repeat that experence or why he feels about the work of Malick the way he does.

[DeGroen1988]

Mallick is a real artist he has proven that with all his 5 films.He is a perfectionist and everything that doesnt fit in his vision gets cut (and thats logical) he's the director he makes the decisions and you actors get lots of money to be in one of his masterpieces.What more can you ask for?

These actors have to much Ego,just because they can act.

[HanzSygnal]

@DeGroen1988 great point. If these smug and self-important actors were objective and not concerned with their screen time, credit and as you put it "ego", they would dedicate themselves to the project and the directors vision, not themselves. These people are pretending to talk craft when actually, they are veinly talking about careers and recognition.

[magicmike323]

It seems that his issue is more about how Malick deals with actors and collaboration, not with him as an artist or his films. If you look at it from the perspective of an actor, it would be frustrating that you did all of this work and have it all cut out without even being told. From what I gather Terrance Malick isn't the most social or outgoing person, so maybe he has trouble confronting the actors about changing their role in the film during editing

[jazz4]

This is the kind of spiel you hear about Kubrick during his time. Boy, were they wrong. If you can watch 'Badlands' and say Malick "needs a writer" - you are delusional, Plummer.

[thelatestttplague]

@jazz4 Exactly! Malick is a genius.

[whatiwasgoingtosay]

OMG, Plummer is speaking truth right now.

[DinoAgent69]

Ahahahah love when they are honest.

[OrdinaryRadicalism]

I understand Mr. Plummer's complaint. I used to dream about being a director, and my brother is an actor (he's actually going up to Chicago this very weekend to audition for Yale's graduate program, among others). And as we discuss, and continue to discuss, whatever either of us has watched, it's become exceedingly apparent that although we both can appreciate a good movie, and our taste is very similar, each of us views it from a different perspective. (Cont.)

[OrdinaryRadicalism]

@OrdinaryRadicalism Being an actor, my brother naturally focuses on the actors' performances more than anything else. I look at movies from a more directorial point of view, and while I love good performances, I'm most interested in the ways that directors build mood and feeling in their scenes. I value the feeling a movie a gives more than I value a tight plot. And Terrence Malick is unequivocally not just my favorite director, but my favorite artist of any form, (Cont.)

[OrdinaryRadicalism]

@OrdinaryRadicalism be it film, music, painting, written poetry, or any other form of art. I think what Malick trys to convey in his movies is a feeling and an awareness of the overwhelming amount of grace in life; an immense grace that doesn't insist upon itself, that's gentle, that's patient that it will be noticed in due time, 'all things shining.' And Malick dwelling on nature as much as he does is essential to conveying the grace within nature, despite it's nature, through which (Cont.)

[OrdinaryRadicalism]

@OrdinaryRadicalism the grace in the lives and relationships of his characters is illuminated.

But, all thoughtful discussion aside, knowing about the whole Adrien Brody-Thin Red Line thing, Mr. Plummer shouldn't have signed on to work with Malick if he wasn't ready for the same thing to happen to him.

[HenryConway007]

What’s Plummer ever directed? Malick does tell stories, and he is a great screenwriter. It’s just that it’s a new and innovative form of storytelling…and a great one. He’s not Spielberg.

[robotdevicehuman]

The New Land? Aren't you David Ansen, film critic of Newsweek? How about "The New World."

[robotdevicehuman]

I knew Clooney was shallow but am disappointed to find Plummer is too. Malick IS a writer. An amazing writer. He made a living at it between directing. He knows how to write conventional but is going beyond theater into cinematic poetry. Those aren't just pretty shots, they contain information, theme. Malick is a true artist. The pretentious one here is Plummer, who is not a true artist because he is not happy to be part of a larger whole and is mad because his lines were cut.

[BOECNation]

@robotdevicehuman I don't think that's hardly fair. As much as I liked The Tree Of Life, it could have used a lot of tightening up in both the writing and pacing departments. I know he is shooting for the stars but the rocket he's using is one that is almost impossible to get on. I think he is an artist, but one that seems to confuse pretension with coherence. It might not be intentional but it's hard to say otherwise.

[BOECNation]

@BOECNation also, look on what Plummer says. He's only stressing the negative facts of working with him and the final product. He's not questioning his artistic merit, just his real payoff.

[echorostecki]

@robotdevicehuman

That's not the case at all. He isn't saying that the ideas and story that Malick is proposing is wrong but the way in which he carries himself as a director is ridiculous. By most likely asking a lot of such great actors and giving them such beautiful words to say, as Plummer said, and then not only cutting the scenes but rearranging what was originally proposed is a terrible move on a directors part.

[echorostecki]

The people who have signed on to the picture are putting their trust in the director and of course there are going to be harsh feelings once the people you trusted end up stabbing you in the back. It doesn't make them shallow to wish to see themselves give moving performances, because that's what they put their blood sweat and tears into as actors. It is however selfish of Malick to not deliver on what was promised and to also not notify his employees.

[echorostecki]

And, I'm sorry, no one ever uses the word "Pretty" to describe the cinematography. They quite clearly emphasize on the sheer beauty and magical quality of the shots.

[burlearth]

@robotdevicehuman That wasn't what this point was.

[shuabert]

@robotdevicehuman Haters gonna hate. Plummer makes excellent points here, and I love Malick.

[CaptainMorganThe3rd]

@robotdevicehuman 10/10 Would like again

[Zrno3]

@robotdevicehuman An actor only finds work by being seen. If they aren't then they loose some promise. But then again they are already such big names, but still one day you are in, the next out.

[iloveneytiri]

@robotdevicehuman Don't assert your opinion as fact. Plummer is correct he does need a writer. The problem with Malick is that he thinks he is alongside Epicurus, Zeno of Citium, Aristotle, Pluto, Confucius and Descartes. The reality is he is a very good director but his writing is at times laughable. 'you'll be grown before that tree is tall' and 'unless you love your life will flash by' these are examples of attempted philosophy. The latter belongs on a valentines card.

[B10NICBURITO]

@robotdevicehuman To be honest, I do not see anything shallow in what Plummer said. Obviously it would make an actor angry if the director decides to change the script and edit it the way he wants to without confronting them. It just shows that he was not being a team player. I agree that Clooney is too pompous.

[word2yourmogwai]

@robotdevicehuman When it takes you three years to edit your movie because of a lack of narrative structure ... it's time to get a fucking writer. A REAL writer.

[JimParsonsFTW]

@robotdevicehuman Look, dude. I'm as big a fan of Malick as you are, but there's absolutely no need to disrespect such a great actor just for expressing his opinion.

[dixxjamm]

@robotdevicehuman I disagree. Everything Plummer said reflects what I feel watching Terence Malick's movies. Wonderful cinematography,great attention to detail but also terrible storytelling.Life and art are not only slo-mo, and elaborate flashes,life is also dialogue and straight-up story-telling.Leone is also a poetic director,crazy about shots and stuff,but I'll be damned if I ever felt bored watching his movies.With Malick...every time.It's a question of taste,I guess,but I had to say it.

[robotdevicehuman]

@dixxjamm I understand not everyone being receptive of Malick's current style, but his first film Badlands is conventional storytelling as are the films he wrote for others, like Pocket Money. So for anyone to say Malick can't write or doesn't understand story or dialog is for them to be just wrong. Starting with his second film Days of Heaven he chose to go in a different direction. It's not that he needs a writer as Plummer asserts but that he's working the medium differently.

[Sshelly34213]

@robotdevicehuman I think he's totally right on the money about Malick. The "storytelling" in cinema really has more to do with direction, editing, and cinematography, then it does with dialogue or even the narrative plot. A tendency of Malick is to tell us what's going on through dialog and that can be a very grating experience. Badlands has some of the most mesmerizing cinematography I've ever seen and yet I don't even recall dialog from it.

[KellyGreen5555]

@Sshelly34213 Agreed. People posting here are incredibly touchy (and uninformed)regarding Plummer's assessment of Malick.

[Sshelly34213]

@KellyGreen5555 lol, such is the case with favorite directors or writers.

[sinomino]

@robotdevicehuman this, my friend, is BS.

[KellyGreen5555]

@robotdevicehuman I am a fan of Terry's work, but Plummer is spot on regarding Terry getting lost in the poetic imagery of his films and losing the script in the process.

Frankly I could listen to Plummer all day...Notice how everyone in the room comes to life when he speaks the truth openly. It is thrilling! We are so accustom to bullshit actors giving us bullshit praise about the people they work with...

I find that Malick's best work is still 1978's Days of Heaven.

[robotdevicehuman]

@KellyGreen5555 This idea of separating "poetic imagery" from the script is the problem people seem to have appreciating Malick. His films are not just well shot stage plays, where the content is in the words. With Malick those poetic images are the writing.

[KellyGreen5555]

@robotdevicehuman Way to miss my point entirely. There should be no for separation.

Unless Malick is making a silent film, great dialogue matters in cinema.

[robotdevicehuman]

@KellyGreen5555 Oh, the irony in claiming *I* missed *your* point. You don't know what you're talking about.

[KellyGreen5555]

@robotdevicehuman You're funny!

[marbeque]

@robotdevicehuman He didn't say he's not a writer, he says he has a problem over writing and obsesses. Which is completely true, that's why it often takes him over 7 years to complete a movie. Not to say the end result isn't brilliant, but something like that story about Adrien Brody, would definitely be frustrating for an actor, and it happens a lot in Mallick films.

[KellyGreen5555]

@marbeque Looks like this debate is bringing out the wingnuts, eh?

[MobFiga4eva]

@robotdevicehuman: You are so right! I love Malick's movies! greetings from Germany ;)

[GMVintage]

Christopher Plummer will live to be 150 yrs old...The Man is a fucking Titan.

[DylanSpliffs]

Are you kidding me? "The problem with Terry...is that he needs a writer." Why, because the scenes in his films are often more like poetry than narrative? Because aesthetics and theme get just as much if not more attention than plot? Sorry Christopher Plummer that you don't get New World, or that film doesn't have to be a showcase for star actors.

[dlfunky1]

clooney let the man speak for godsakes he is so annoying sometimes you might learn something from the great man george! Btw, anyone who produes a film as perfect as badlands is a genius i dont care what else he does afterwards!

[wemorris1001]

This was extremely interesting.

[OurTheoremBow]

Film is a visual medium, therefore story is not integral to great filmmaking. Bresson: "Two types of film: those that employ the resources of the theater (actors, directors etc) and use the camera in order to REPRODUCE; those that employ the resources of cinematography and use the camera to CREATE." (For more, see everything Bresson wrote on the subject.) By all means, criticize Malick if you'd like. But don't criticize someone for not conforming to your preconceived notions of what cinema is.

[ARETHA124]

Shut up George Clooney.

[TheTRJ4200]

Sour Grapes Make Bitter Wine!

[klausweasley]

Christopher Plummer complaining about Malick's non-compliance to a conventional storyline is like complaining about Quentin Tarantino's movies being too violent.

[Raynul]

christopher plummer got it right on the dot for the new world, its starts off so well and then its just another 2 hours of incomplete conversations. I just continuously cuts to another scen with finishing the one before it.

[bla87]

Only half the people in this room got oscar nods. Talk about upsets!

[MrSupastar83]

People get all caught up in the visuals of Malick's films, which to be honest are quite breathtakingly beautiful. But the stories, like Plummer rightly points out, are very disjointed...It's almost a case of him doing too much on a film, if that's possible. Too much over-writing and too much editing afterwards. It's time someone called him out and not see him as this filmmaking demi-God.

[vedderim]

Three critics on a recent Charlie Rose episode discussed the Oscar nominations, and all three think Malick deserves the Best Director, but ultimately feel he won't win. This is why I trust critics, and not egomaniacal actors. Malick needs a writer? Malick needs an editor? Plummer, you strike me as a guy who doesn't do a whole lot of thinking.

[Youbian]

The actors are tools for the director. It doesn't matter what they 'think' a scene should look like. This is a clear example of relativity, as you have admirers (often the actors themselves) coming in knowing full well the result will be something beautiful, yet their arrogance takes over and spoils their experience. It's the actors/collaborators who truly surrender that understand Malick.

And anyone else feel the uncomfortableness of that room? With those lights and all those squeaky chairs.

[NifNoufLogasse2]

@Youbian Totally agree ! I was watching this thinking 'Who do they think they are ?!!'

In my opnion, I honestly believe that Terrence Malick creates masterpieces : so if Mr Plummer has to be cut from the final product, then so be it !

And yes, Malick movies don't have a real 'narrative' story but gosh, people, have you ever heard of creativity ? Experimentation ? Poetry ?

Do Kubrick, Lynch or Aronofsky have 'convetional' stories/writing ? No. They're still great film makers.

[Youbian]

@NifNoufLogasse2 On the other hand, how many times have we thought "If I that were me, I would do such and such" only to behave differently when in that position.

[Tigerlily21]

Terrence Malick's first two films were great, but everything since has been so pretentious and his writing has never been his strong point. A film's got to be more than just pretty pictures of nature.

[AbsolutVeidt]

Christopher Plummer is da man :3

[sinemanyak]

please george clooney stop to talk and let the other people talk..all the videos he is talking talking and talking...bla bla bla

[vedderim]

You're there to serve the writer and director, which in this case are both Malick. He's unconventional. Deal with it. Christian Bale doesn't seem to have a problem working with Malick again, probably because he respects Malick's philosophy and the story he wants to tell. Good for him.

[pacmansays]

Christopher Plummer looks the spitting of image of Morgan Freeman (discarding skin colour)

[mistydancer]

@pacmansays I was just thinking that.

[eaterHP]

@theraccoonkid218 you totally didn't listen to what they said did you

[ladybruin12]

<3 Christopher Plummer...Finally he gets to talk!! Also, adore the Fass man

[grindhouse141]

Agreed, Malick needs a writer. Nice to hear someone who doesn't praise him as a "genius." He's a glorified photographer who creates nice screensaver's.

[BunnyMan456]

@grindhouse141 Grindhouse, I love your page, but this is a cheap and lazy shot. The reason Malick gets backlash is because he is trying to change the form of movies, just as Stanley Kubrick was trying to change the form of movies with 2001. The form is what makes him Malick. He may care about the movie more than the actors, but that doesn't make him a lost DP. In fact the only movie he's made with no classical narrative is his last one. Watch Badlands and tell me that doesn't have a story.

[grindhouse141]

@BunnyMan456 He's hardly the 1st person to do that. Last Year at Marienbad, same thing. Beautiful cinematography, no story.... and that was 1961. Badlands is by far his best film precisely because he didn't jumble the narrative. Then comes Days of Heaven, which is quite good, but by the time you get to The Thin Red Line the new Malick has taken over and kissed coherence goodbye.

[BunnyMan456]

@grindhouse141 The James Jones book isn't concerned with plot or narrative either. But both the book and the movie use the Battle of Mount Austen a very straight forward military campaign, to focus on specific characters and ideas. Thin Red Line actually can't help but be coherent, which is why it works for TM's purposes. I do feel bad for Adrien Brody and Christopher Plummer (he's not even in the opening credits).

[malows1234]

@grindhouse141 fuck yourself in the ass. he is a philosopher and he knows philosophy like a master.

[grindhouse141]

@malows1234 I'll pass

[malows1234]

@grindhouse141 don't act smart with me. i know you like films and stuff, but the problem with you is that you think nolan is a good director. second you don't think paul anderson is the greatest director lving right now. lol jk nolan is alrite, but even he can't hold a candle to malick. malick is a very personal filmmaker.

[JohnnyJihad15]

@malows1234 that sounds like a rational response to a defense of a "genius" director. Don't get offended if someone doesn't like the same things you don't. I don't like Terry's films at all, but I'm not gonna yell at you because you like him. People can like whatever they want.

[emelyariasp]

Plummer is difficult to work with, but he is right about Malick

[Alicex8x8x]

apparently Christopher is terrible to work with...

[WartyWarthogHogger]

Poor Adrian Brody, xD But they're right, he could use a writer, while I do love some of his movies, some of them could just use....more.

[coinquatro]

plummer should get over his fucking ego.